1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for exhausting noxious vapors from a toilet through an improved toilet seat with an exhaust fan that is automatically actuated at the time a person sits on th e toi let seat.
2. Background Information
From an electronic search of the U. S. Patent Office files the following patents were discovered:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,544, Aug. 28, 1979, Barry PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,293, Nov. 27, 1979, Stephens et al PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,406, Nov. 11, 1980, Beeghly et al PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,888, Feb. 24, 1981, Turner PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,999, Dec. 10, 1985, Liedley PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,078, Feb. 23, 1988, Carballo et al PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,600, Apr. 30, 1991, Prisco PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,729, Aug. 11, 1992, Ricard PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,262, Nov. 10, 1992, Quaintance,Sr. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,111, Apr. 6, 1993, Antepenko PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,423, Jan. 7, 1997, Boykin
This seems to be a crowded art. However, the above systems are prone to contamination yet difficult to clean. This is an unsanitary situation. Also, most lack automatic operation with delayed shut off. A person has to actuate the systems, and often people forget when it is inconvenient to reach over and actuate a switch.
Barry, U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,544 is significant in that it uses a vacuum drawn from through a modified water tank. It would seem that the operation of the odor removal apparatus, at times, conflicts with the flushing operation.
Stephens et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,293 uses a special hinge which requires an off standard seat and cover. Again, this requires mass production to be cost effective. Also, it is only collecting odors at one end of the commode seat and requires more space than other approaches.
Beeghly et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,406, tries to overcome the problems of Barry with a vacuum breaker valve. This involves a water tank designed for the application. This involves a deviation from the standard water tanks which complicates manufacturing, distribution, installation, and pricing.
Turner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,888, uses a customised commode seat that is complex to manufacture. Also, water will tend to collect inside the hollow spaces in the seat. The hollow spaces are difficult, if not impossible, to clean out. Also, there are household voltage electrical connections directly under the water tank. Commodes can overflow in certain circumstances so those electrical connections could be flooded with water. Also, many people are not that comfortable sitting in the vicinity of electrical connections at 110 volts AC with their private parts uncovered. That is a customer acceptance problem.
Lindley, U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,999, also uses a commmode seat with hollow spaces that can collect moisture and are difficult, if not impossible, to clean. Also, this is an expensive seat to manufacture because of the tooling costs involved for economical production.
Carballo et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,078 also has the problem of a specialized commode seat, difficult to manufacture, with spaces that will collect moisture and be difficult, if not impossible, to clean.
Prisco, U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,600, also has the problem of a specialized commode seat, difficult to manufacture, with hollow spaces that will collect moisture and be difficult, if not impossible, to clean.
Ricard, U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,729, is an extra part in a toilet bowl assembly that would seem to be an additional item to keep clean. It primarily addresses the odious vapors in a localized area of the toilet bowl.
Quainance,Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,262, has a rather conspicuous piece of added hardware that would appear to be a cleaning chore.
Anatepenko, U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,111, has the advantage of retrofit on existing toilet bowls, but it appears to deal primarily with vapors near the one end of the bowl and appears to be difficult to keep clean. Men can be sloppy urinaters, and that is a problem with projecting hardware such as is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,111.
Boykin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,423, is an extra assembly, takes up space, and would apear to be difficult to keep clean. Boykin addresses a mommentary contact switch that may be connected in series with the power supply line of the venting system that activates the venting system when a person sits on the seat of the commode. This implies that the full current required to operate the venting system is passing through said contact switch. This is a hazardous situation.
None of the above provide an easily maintainable, relatively inconspicuous, easy to manufacture, approach to removing odious vapors from a toilet bowl. As will be seen from the subsequent description, the preferred embodiment of the present invention overcomes these and other shortcomings of the prior art.